Daily Reflection – Mar 4, 2018

Sunday 4 March 2018

First Reading: EX 20:1-17
Responsorial Psalm:
Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
PS 19:8, 9, 10, 11
Second Reading: 1 COR 1:22-25
Gospel Reading: JN 2:13-25

Today’s Note: Third Sunday of Lent – Year A Readings

Gospel Reading:

Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,
as well as the money changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen,
and spilled the coins of the money changers
and overturned their tables,
and to those who sold doves he said,
“Take these out of here,
and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture,
Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him,
“What sign can you show us for doing this?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews said,
“This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,
and you will raise it up in three days?”
But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this,
and they came to believe the Scripture
and the word Jesus had spoken.

While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,
many began to believe in his name
when they saw the signs he was doing.
But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all,
and did not need anyone to testify about human nature.
He himself understood it well.

Reflection:

I . . . brought you out of . . . that place of slavery. (Exodus 20:2)

Despite the fact that slavery continues to exist, it should be obvious that no one has the right to own another person. This was the reason, after all, for the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt: God rescued them from slavery. What is not so obvious, however, is the way we can fall into a kind of slavery to sin. It’s a slavery that happens whenever we are trapped in sinful habits that we cannot get out of.

The good news is that just as he rescued the Israelites from physical slavery, God wants to rescue us from spiritual slavery.

The idea of being someone’s slave is naturally abhorrent to us. No one wants to be owned by someone else. This is the same attitude that we should have when it comes to slavery to sin as well. No one wants to be under its power. No one wants to feel powerless in some area of their lives. As St. Paul has said, we were created to be free, and Jesus came for just this purpose: to “set us free” (Galatians 5:1).

So do you want to experience freedom from a sinful habit that has some control over your life? If so, here are two suggestions.

First, confess your sins each day in prayer. Tell Jesus how hard it is to overcome this sin. Believe in the promise of Scripture: “If we acknowledge our sins,” God will “cleanse us from every wrongdoing” (1 John 1:9).

Second, pray for the strength to resist. Trust that God sees your efforts and blesses them with his own power to help us say no when temptation rises up within us.

We may never stop sinning. But the process of sanctification, which comes as we pray, confess our sins, and seek God’s strength, can help reduce our sins. It makes sin lose its power over us and makes us stronger in our efforts to resist.

“Lord, I don’t want to be a slave. Help me to be free.”